]]>Seminoles upset Tar Heels, 90-57http://reesenews.org/2012/01/14/unc-to-face-florida-state-at-2-p-m-et/29111/
Sat, 14 Jan 2012 14:58:37 +0000http://reesenews.org/?p=29111After enjoying a nine game winning streak, the Tar Heels lost to the Florida State Seminoles 90-57 in Tallahassee on Saturday afternoon. In their first away game in 6 weeks, the Heels couldn’t manage to top Florida State.

The 33-point deficit marks head coach Roy Williams’ worst loss while at UNC.

]]>All freshmen will be required to live on South Campus in 2012http://reesenews.org/2011/11/28/all-freshmen-will-be-required-to-live-on-south-campus-in-2012/27617/
Mon, 28 Nov 2011 19:26:48 +0000http://reesenews.org/?p=27617The Daily Tar Heel||http://www.dailytarheel.com/index.php/article/2011/11/freshmen_will_have_to_live_on_south_campus_in_2012
]]>'Occupy' sympathizers arrestedhttp://reesenews.org/2011/11/15/occupy-sympathizers-arrested/27093/
Tue, 15 Nov 2011 20:36:38 +0000http://reesenews.org/?p=27093Chapel Hill police arrested eight people Sunday night after they took over the vacant former Yates Motor Company building on 419 E. Franklin Street.

Seven people—Kassandra Ofray, Monica Ganguly, Jack Jarrell, Eva Jones, Ellen Crawford, Daniel Regenscheit and David Maliken—were charged with breaking and entering. Sonia Katchian was charged with delaying and obstructing a public officer. All were released on a written promise to appear in court.

]]>Rain won't force Carrier Classic below deckhttp://reesenews.org/2011/11/11/rain-wont-force-carrier-classic-below-deck/26677/
Fri, 11 Nov 2011 15:41:26 +0000http://reesenews.org/?p=26677ESPN||http://espn.go.com/blog/north-carolina-basketball/post/_/id/529/rain-wont-force-carrier-classic-below-deck
]]>In the news: All about the Carrier Classichttp://reesenews.org/2011/11/10/carrier-classic-coverage/26529/
Thu, 10 Nov 2011 19:43:47 +0000http://reesenews.org/?p=26529The UNC Tar Heels and Michigan State Spartans will kick off the 2011-2012 basketball season Friday at 7 p.m ET with the first ever Carrier Classic. The teams will play in San Diego on the USS Carl Vinson, an aircraft carrier.

Carolina Clubs around the world—from Seattle to Shanghai to New Zealand—are holding game-viewing parties for the Carrier Classic. Check out the UNC General Alumni Association website to find one near you.

]]>N.C. same-sex marriage amendment to be on May ballothttp://reesenews.org/2011/09/13/n-c-same-sex-marriage-amendment-to-be-on-may-ballot/19779/
Tue, 13 Sep 2011 19:04:08 +0000http://reesenews.org/?p=19779North Carolina voters will be able to decide next May whether to add a ban on same-sex marriage to the state constitution. The North Carolina Senate voted 30-16 Tuesday in favor of putting the question on the primary ballot. The House voted in favor of the bill 75-42 Monday.

State law already bans same-sex marriage, but North Carolina is the only state in the Southeast without such a prohibition in its constitution.

]]>N.C. wine could stimulate tourismhttp://reesenews.org/2011/01/13/wine-production-expected-to-stimulate-tourist-industry/7844/
Thu, 13 Jan 2011 08:06:58 +0000http://reesenews.org/?p=7844For the Shelton brothers, what started out as a hobby led them to become one of the largest producers of wine on the East Coast, and a prime example of the growing wine industry in North Carolina.

In the mid-1990s, brothers Charlie and Ed Shelton purchased some land in Yadkin Valley near Mount Airy at an auction, not knowing what exactly they wanted to do with it.

The brothers thought that the area had an ideal climate for growing grapes and decided to develop the land as a vineyard as a personal hobby.

But it soon became a full-fledged business, and Shelton Vineyards, founded in 1999, is now the largest family-owned estate winery in North Carolina and one of the leading wine producers on the East Coast.

In that time, the amount of land used to grow grapes has doubled to 1,800 acres, and the state now averages about 800,000 winery visitors a year, Furr said.

Wine an economic boon for North Carolina

North Carolina ranks seventh in the nation in wine production and has more than 400 vineyards and more than 100 wineries across the state, with around 12 wineries opening each year.

The steady growth of wineries and the expansion of grape production in the last 10 years has led to several developments across the state to increase wine tourism in North Carolina.

In August 2010, North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue wrote a letter to North Carolina retailers, restaurant owners and restaurant managers urging them to support and promote North Carolina wines, emphasizing the fact that the wine industry is growing into an increasingly important part of North Carolina’s economy.

Perdue also recently proclaimed September as “Wine and Grape Appreciation Month” in North Carolina.

“Vineyards and wineries play an important role in North Carolina’s tourism industry, with wineries and vineyards significantly enhancing tourism in the state by providing unique travel destinations, green space and aesthetic appeal,” Perdue said in the proclamation.

“The wine community is an important part of agribusiness in North Carolina and wineries are flourishing across the Tar Heel state,” she said.

North Carolina is one of the top five state destinations for wine and culinary tourism in the U.S., according to a 2007 national survey sponsored by the Travel Industry Association in partnership with Gourmet Magazine and the International Culinary Tourism Association.

California has the highest U.S. wine tourism market share at 31 percent, followed by New York at 10 percent. North Carolina is tied with Pennsylvania, Missouri and Oregon, each with 5 percent of the wine tourism market share, according to a separate study done by the Travel Industry Association.

The wine industry brings in $813 million annually, approximately 4 percent of the overall $20.2 billion generated by the tourism industry.

“We’re updating that study this year and expect the impact to be more than $1 billion in 2010,” Furr said.

In comparison, California produces 90 percent of U.S. wine, generates $61.5 billion in economic revenue for the state and $2.1 billion in wine-related tourism, according to the Wine Institute.

The average amount spent at a North Carolina winery was $176 per travel party, and out-of-state visitors spent an average of about 50 percent more than in-state visitors, according to a study conducted by Appalachian State University sponsored by the North Carolina Wine & Grape Council.

The top activities for overnight visitors in North Carolina include visiting relatives or friends, shopping, going to the beach and rural sightseeing, while only 2 percent of overnight visitors participate in a winery tour or wine tasting, according to the Division of Tourism’s visitor profile.

But as Furr points out, that statistic is not telling of the actual number of people who visit wineries around the state, as a large portion of visitors go to wineries on day trips.

The top states of origin for out-of-state overnight visitors are Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, which is reflected in the origins of winery visitors.

Wine history dates back to Sir Walter Raleigh

North Carolina has an interesting, if not inconsistent, wine history.

In 1835, North Carolina’s first commercial winery, Medoc Vineyard, was established in Brinkleyville in Halifax County and led in the country’s muscadine wine production for several years.

Wine production in North Carolina thrived in the 1800s. At the turn of the century it was one of the leading wine producing states with twenty-five operating wineries. The industry halted with the onset of Prohibition, and North Carolina didn’t resume its wine industry until the early ’70s.

The state legislature passed a preferential state excise tax law in 1972 that was designed to encourage the establishment of a wine industry in the state.

Wines produced from 51 percent or more native fruits and berries were taxed at five cents per gallon instead of 60 cents per gallon for other wines. Also, the annual winery license fee was reduced from $1,000 to $100. After this incentive, wineries opened throughout North Carolina, including Biltmore Estate Winery as well as Duplin Wine Cellars.

In 1985, the state lost the preferential tax that spurred the growth of wineries, and by 1986, there were only six wineries in the state. As a result, the North Carolina Wine & Grape Council was established that year to stimulate the growth of the wine and grape industry.

The mission of the council is to encourage “economic viability and opportunity for growers and processors through education, marketing and research,” according to the North Carolina Department of Commerce.

North Carolina grows every major type of grape, including vinifera, French-American hybrids, labruscas and muscadines. This growth is made possible by North Carolina’s varied geography, climate and soil.

The wine industry in North Carolina has two focuses — native muscadine grapes and European-style vinifera grapes. Commonly planted vinifera grape varieties, which are planted in the Western and Piedmont regions of the state, include Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Syrah, Chardonnay and Viognier.

Scuppernongs, a variety of the muscadine grape, thrive in the hot and sandy regions of the state and make sweeter wine. The scuppernong is the official fruit of North Carolina and was the first wine grape cultivated in the U.S.

In 2008, Duplin Winery in Rose Hill, N.C., released the MotherVine Premium Scuppernong, the first wine commercially available in over 100 years from the “Mother Vine.”

The “Mother Vine,” a 400-year-old scuppernong vine supposedly discovered by Sir Walter Raleigh’s explorers in 1585, is located on Roanoke Island in Manteo, N.C. It is the oldest known cultivated grapevine in the nation, stretching half an acre and still growing and producing grapes.

Duplin Winery, which opened in 1976, is the world’s largest muscadine producer and the largest and oldest winery in the South, producing an average of 90,000 gallons of wine a year. Jonathan Fussell, president of Duplin Winery Retail, said that in the past three years, the number of visitors has increased while the amount being purchased has decreased.

The future of North Carolina wine

However, Fussell said he is optimistic about the future of North Carolina’s wine industry.

“As more and more wineries open, it exposes more people to our industry,” Fussell said. “[The] expansion of wineries will be good for tourism and wineries of North Carolina.”

Wine enthusiasts might be surprised to discover that the most visited winery in the U.S. isn’t, in fact, in northern California or even New York, but in the mountains of North Carolina. Biltmore Winery in Asheville sees more than one million visitors each year.

The winery, originally a dairy barn, produces award-winning estate wines at the famous Vanderbilt-owned estate. Biltmore established its first vineyards in 1971 in an area below the Biltmore House and opened the doors to the Biltmore Winery in 1978. The winery will be celebrating its 25th anniversary in the upcoming year.

Heather Jordan, the marketing manager for Biltmore Wines, said that the number of visitors to the Biltmore winery has remained about the same in the past few years. The winery sees the most visitors during the holiday season, from late November to December, but a large amount of visitors come through in spring and summer as well.

Biltmore has recently opened a new village on the estate, Antler Hill Village, next to the winery, which Jordan thinks will attract more visitors. Jordan said she sees North Carolina wine tourism expanding in the next couple of years.

“As awareness of the North Carolina wine industry grows, so will tourism, in addition to the expanding consumer interest and consumption of wine within the region,” Jordan said.

Wine-making regions include Orange County

There are now three major viticultural areas in North Carolina — Yadkin Valley, Swan Creek and Haw River Valley.

Yadkin Valley, in the northwest part of the state, is North Carolina’s first federally designated winemaking region. Bordered to the west by the Blue Ridge Mountains, Yadkin Valley was named an American Viticultural Area in 2003 and has the highest concentration of wineries in North Carolina.

To be designated as a viticultural area, growing conditions such as climate, soil, elevation, and physical features must be distinctive and 85 percent of the grapes used to make a wine must be grown in the specialized area.

The Yadkin Valley viticultural area encompasses 1,400,000 acres in the Yadkin River Valley and includes Wilkes, Surry and Yadkin counties, in addition to parts of Davie, Davidson, Forsyth and Stokes counties. Many of the area’s grapes are grown on former tobacco farms.

Swan Creek, also located within the Yadkin Valley, was made an viticultural area in 2008 and has five wineries within 10 miles of each other specializing in vinifera grapes. It encompasses 180 square miles in Wilkes, Yadkin and Iredell counties.

Haw River Valley, an 868 square miles region located in Alamance, Caswell, Chatham, Guilford, Orange and Rockingham counties in central North Carolina, was designated as a viticultral area in 2009 and includes six wineries.

In November 2010, the Shelton-Badgett North Carolina Center for Viticulture and Enology at Surry Community College in Yadkin Valley opened its doors.

Named for the family of Charlie and Ed Shelton, the owners of Shelton Vineyards, the center aims to serve the grape and wine industry in North Carolina and the Southeast by providing workforce training and industry support, according to a statement released by Surry Community College.

The Shelton-Badgett family played an integral role in starting the college’s viticulture and enology program in 1999, the same year Shelton Vineyards was founded.

The center is a $5 million complex founded through the General Assembly’s appropriations, North Carolina Community College System grants, state bonds and private donations.

Surry Community College has a five-acre vineyard and bonded winery on campus and “$3.2 million in grants and private donations has been leveraged for student centered demonstration projects, technical training and services targeting improved and expanded vineyard and winery operations,” according to the college’s press release.

Furr said new tourism initiatives by the North Carolina Wine & Grape Council include enhancements to their wine website, new billboards across the state promoting the North Carolina wine country and the development of an iPhone app for the wineries in the state.

“I do see wine tourism growing in North Carolina with the growth of the industry each year. We’re excited about travelers as they learn about our 100 wineries across the state and how many great places there are to experience right near their own backyard,” Furr said.

“As the economy recovers, we expect tourism travel to increase as well.”

This article was reported as part of the J253 Reporting and News Writing course at UNC’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

]]>4 out of 10 surveyed: health care reform most important election issuehttp://reesenews.org/2010/11/03/4-out-of-10-surveyed-health-care-reform-most-important-eleciton-issue/3896/
Wed, 03 Nov 2010 22:14:18 +0000http://reesenews.org/?p=3896CHAPEL HILL
Four out of 10 people interviewed in Chapel Hill Tuesday, the day of the midterm election, said that health care reform is the most important issue for North Carolina politicians to address in the next four years.

People were asked, “What should be the most important issue for politicians to tackle in the next four years in North Carolina?”

“North Carolina takes pride in their health care system, but with health care reform more people will be helped and doctors will be better paid,” said Elizabeth Consky, 22, a first-year graduate student in the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Dentistry.

Other answers included education reform, rebuilding the economy, urban sprawl and pension plans. Rebuilding the economy got two votes, with one person saying that specifically, politicians need to focus on job shortages. Two people said that education reform was most important.

“There are problems with the public school system, and if you want to complain about the system, you have to get out there and vote,” said Ryan Schell, a second-year graduate student from Nasheville in the UNC-CH School of Pharmacy.

Palmer Pierce, 24, a student at Meredith College who is getting her master’s degree in teaching, agreed that education should be the most important issue to focus on in the next four years.

This article was reported as part of the J753 Reporting and News Writing course at UNC’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

]]>Homegrown Halloween returns to Franklin Street, not quite as scaryhttp://reesenews.org/2010/10/14/homegrown-halloween-returns/326/
Thu, 14 Oct 2010 01:41:58 +0000http://www.reesenews.org/?p=326CHAPEL HILL
Homegrown Halloween, the initiative that began in 2008 to reduce crowd sizes on Halloween, is returning for the third consecutive year to make the celebration safer and more manageable, said Meg McGurk, assistant director of the Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership.

The effort, which aims to reduce crowds in the interest of public safety, was successful in the past two years by attempting to keep Halloween local. What was once a local tradition of residents and students gathering on Franklin Street on Halloween had grown to an enormous event spreading throughout downtown, with visitors coming from across the region to see the spectacle.

When Homegrown Halloween was initiated in 2008, the crowd size was reduced from the 80,000 people it had seen in 2007, to 35,000, according to a news release by the Chapel Hill Police Department. Last year, the event drew 50,000 people.

“Crowd size is difficult to predict,“ said Chris Blue, assistant chief of police, in an e-mail on the expected turnout this Halloween. “It is our hope that having Halloween on a Sunday night this year will keep the crowd at least as small as last year.”

Even with the reduced crowd size, issues such as crowd panic, gang violence and alcohol poisoning remain.

In 2009, Orange County Medical Services responded to 22 calls, 18 of which were related to intoxication, and eight people were transported to UNC Hospitals, according to a report from the Police Department. One person was arrested for assault. Blue expects around 250 officers to be on duty for the event.

Plans for this year’s Homegrown Halloween include restricting traffic access to downtown Chapel Hill starting at 7 p.m., police monitoring costume props that could be potentially hazardous, no parking or bus shuttles, alcohol checkpoints, driving while intoxicated (DWI) enforcements, and restricting alcohol sales after 1 a.m. Police will begin shutting down the event at midnight.

Morgan Stroud, a second-year graduate student from Summerville, S.C., in the School of Pharmacy, has attended Halloween on Franklin Street for the past five years and said that Halloween has been more enjoyable with fewer crowds.

“The amount of people used to make me nervous,” Stroud said. “I was afraid I was going to get trampled or the group I was with would get torn apart.”

Now, Stroud looks forward to Halloween.

“The past two years, you could actually mingle and I didn’t feel as threatened by the crowd,” she said. “Seeing the policemen on horses makes me feel safe, and I’m not at worried as I used to be, but I’ll still go with a group just to be careful.”

Another concern is that the crowd will spill onto the University campus and residential areas, which could lead to property damage or burglary. Stroud, who lived on Franklin Street in a sorority house as a sophomore, said that a hired security guard would stand outside the front door of the house to deter anyone from breaking in.

Police will manage access to residential areas by closing off certain streets near downtown. Only residents and their guests will be permitted to drive in and out of the enclosed area, and they will have to tell the officer at the barricade exactly where they are going.

This story was reported as part of the J753 Reporting and News Writing course at UNC’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication.